“I’m very comfortable with it. He’s still looking at some significant time, but by no means is he looking at natural life in prison.”

Sentencing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 4 in front of Oakland County Circuit Judge Rudy Nichols. Armed robbery can bring a sentence of up to life in prison, but, since Watkins has already served more than a year in jail, he could serve as little as eight more years.

“We obviously respect the jury’s verdict and were very pleased with the verdict with McCray finding him guilty of felony murder,” Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton said.

The jury’s decision in the Watkins case likely came down to Watkins’ state of mind leading up to the shooting, Walton said. In order to convict Watkins under an aiding and abetting theory, the jury had to find that Watkins had the shared intent to kill, shared intent to commit great bodily harm or had a wanton willful disregard for human life.

“The jury found there was insufficient evidence ... that he had one of these three states of mind,” Walton said.

“(The jury decided) he aided and abetted in the underlying armed robbery but did not possess the necessary consent to hold him accountable for the murder.”

Watkins had been out of jail since December on 10 percent of a $250,000 bond. Some people in attendance left the courtroom angrily as he was placed in handcuffs after the verdict was read shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday.

Deliberations in the Watkins case began late Tuesday morning. “I was actually concerned that it may be a hung jury and that we might have to retry the case,” Escobedo said of his thoughts as deliberations stretched into a third day.

“I’m much more happier with this result. I think it’s a fair and appropriate result.”